Cry Our Beloved Daily Graphic

When the integrity of a state newspaper like the Daily Graphic is impugned for the political convenience of persons at the seat of government, there is cause for worry. The newspaper has never suffered such wanton interference from politicians at the helm, an aberration which is feeding ferociously on the willingness of propagandists within the newspaper establishment. There is a gradual withering of the credibility and therefore the reverence of this flagship of local newspaper journalism and we fret about the sad reality, considering the far-reaching consequences of such aberration. The repeat of a 2008 story by the paper which formed themes of many academic discourses following it, is a continuation of a tendentious agenda of the cocaine politics which has remained a cornerstone of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) schemes for some time now. Unfortunately, those behind this oddity are using their cultivated allies in the newspaper to achieve their ends. Such cheap politics of attrition should be left to the mostly cheap newspapers in the gutters to undertake; and there are many of them howling about in town; certainly not our Daily Graphic. It is unlike the Daily Graphic to fall into this despicable gutter journalism, especially given the fine crop of journalists working at the place. These are fantastic ladies and gentlemen who have put in many years of meritorious service to country and profession but who must now bear the stress of containing the interference of propagandists at both the Castle and the in-house. Many of them continue to complain helplessly in the face of the continuing interference by powerful politicians who are on the verge of extending their fiefdoms to the corridors of this previously fantastic newspaper. If only the professionals could be left alone to ply their noble profession with the ethics of their profession as their canons, such inappropriate and shameful occurrences would not have reared their heads. There have never been more terrible times in the annals of the Daily Graphic and we genuinely worry that such anomalies are befalling this giant of Ghanaian journalism. Many young persons in our tertiary institutions long to work in such a respectable state institution and for them to behold such unprofessional conduct as a result of forays of politicians is anything but acceptable and encouraging. Our heart bleeds for what is unfolding at the Daily Graphic whose downward spiral in recent times has not failed to attract the attention of observers of the media scene. Bankole Timothy and other pioneers of the paper should be squirming in their graves over what is happening to the paper they toiled to bring up. We call on all germane bodies to come to the rescue of the Daily Graphic to stave off the machinations of greedy and fiendish politicians for whom only their myopic interests matter and nothing else.